While acknowledging the SaaS model has become an attractive selling point for e-sourcing solutions, Emptoris CEO Avner Schneur is more excited about the new supplier performance management capabilities the company's new SaaS-based platform offers.

Emptoris became the latest e-sourcing vendor to embrace the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model when it unveiled Emptoris 7 last week.“Companies new to supply and contract management want a quick on-ramp—and the flexibility to grow and eventually take on more advanced capabilities,” Avner Schneur, president and CEO of Emptoris, said in announcing the new release.While acknowledging the SaaS model has become an attractive selling point for e-sourcing solutions, Schneur said Emptoris is more excited about the new supplier performance management capabilities the new platform offers.Industry analysts have noted that manufacturers are interested in solutions that offer enhanced ability to monitor the performance of suppliers across global supply networks. Schneur said Emptoris 7 can support those objectives with the following features:•••Emptoris provides a savings database and mechanisms to capture savings from sourcing projects, and executive roll-up reporting that includes visibility into the savings contributions by division, category, project, or event type.